Kundan

Kundan is a centuries-old setting technique refined in the Mughal ateliers of Akbar (r. 1556–1605) and carried forward by the goldsmiths of Jaipur. The historical method used a sheet of gold foil placed behind each uncut stone — the foil caught the light the stone missed, and the brilliance you saw was the leaf, not the gem. That historical silhouette is the inspiration behind every Nandai kundan-style piece.

What we actually make: Nandai's pieces use the same hand-set bench process at the same Jaipur ateliers, but with gold-plated brass as the base, kundan-style coloured glass as the stones, and American-diamond accents (lab-cut CZ) wherever the original would have used a polki. A single bridal choker still passes through eleven hands before it leaves Jaipur — the plater, the foil-cutter, the stone-setter, the meena-painter, the enamel-firer, the polisher, and so on.

What to wear it with. Kundan-style reads as evening jewellery in the West — the stones are large, the layout is grand. In Indian tradition it is bridal-and-festival jewellery, paired with silk, brocade, and the deep jewel-tones (emerald, ruby, sapphire) the metalwork was designed against. A red or wine-tone outfit makes the gold sing; an ivory or champagne lehenga lets the stones do the talking.

Brand-truth note. Nandai is fashion / imitation jewellery — gold-plated brass with kundan-style coloured glass and American-diamond accents. We are NOT solid gold, NOT BIS-Hallmarked, and we do not set real uncut natural diamonds. We hold the silhouette of a 17th-century court piece at a price that lets a bride buy four to mix-and-match across her wedding week.